Bitter medicine - Page 5

To overcome that kind of money and influence, advocates say it was crucial to wield a credible single-payer option — a sort of death penalty for the insurance industry — for as long as possible.

"Having single-payer discussions on the table really informs the debate over the public option," Flanagan said. "But by removing single-payer, it made the public option the left flank."

Flanagan, like many, is worried about how a 900-page bill will turn out. "There are a thousands ways to get it wrong," he said. "An easy way to get it right would be to just do a single-payer system." ------------

HEALTH CARE BY THE NUMBERS

•Uninsured Americans: 47 million

•Uninsured Californians: More than 6.7 million (about one in six)

•African Americans without health insurance in California: 19 percent

•Latinos without health insurance in California: 31 percent

•Whites without health insurance in California: 12 percent

•San Franciscans without health insurance: 15.3 percent

•Rise in health-insurance premiums from 2000 to 2007 in California: 96 percent

•Projected rise in health care costs per family without reform: $1,800 per year